


Somewhere Starks End Up

by remreader



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Comfort, Drunk Tony Stark, Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 07:56:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17762825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/remreader/pseuds/remreader
Summary: Tony Stark hadn't meant to end up on the road where his parents had died in the middle of the night, but there he was anyway, with nothing but the suit he was wearing and a liquor bottle in his hand.





	Somewhere Starks End Up

**Author's Note:**

> Potential tw: I'm not sure if it quite counts as suicidal thoughts and I can add the tag if anyone wants me to, but Tony does consider the possibility that he might die and is pretty unbothered by it.

When he'd snuck out of the reception, the eleventh - twelfth? in a long line of memorials, interviews, meetings, and of course the funeral itself, that he'd been obliged to attend in the few weeks since the accident there'd been no plan of where he was running _to_ , just what he was running away _from_. Tony Stark was tired, tired of all the things everyone _wanted_ from him and tired of trying to give it to them. There were so many things he was supposed to be, so many expectations - the mourning son, receptacle for all the public grief and collective wringing of hands, but also no, can't look too broken up, Tony, got to give the board and the shareholders confidence that SI is going to be in capable hands when you take over, got to prove yourself worthy of Howard’s legacy...but maybe still tear up a bit for the cameras, hmm? Don't want to look heartless.

The performance, that was nothing new. He could usually be whatever anyone (except his father, never Howard) wanted him to be but right now...right now he didn't know how he actually felt, what he was _supposed_ to feel and it made the whole thing so much more confusing and exhausting. Too many masks to wear and no idea what he'd find when he took them all off. He just wanted to hide away for a while in his lab with his bots, build something. Things made more sense when he was working on a project. But no one wanted to leave him alone, there was too much to _do_ , so much pomp and circumstance, and Obie said he couldn't risk the rumors that would start swirling if he hid himself away from the public eye. So he played his part like a good little grief-stricken son/heir and when his chance came he took it, slipping out during yet another long speech and grabbing a bottle off the bar for good measure. And he walked.

It was only once he'd gotten there, to that road, that he realized three very important things in quick succession - 1) He had left his coat and his suit jacket back at the reception, 2) It was very, very, _very_ cold out here, and 3) He had absolutely no idea how to get back. His feet had taken him here, to the killing field, as if on autopilot but whatever force had been driving him here was gone now. He shivered. Perfect. He'd been stupid and reckless, just like always (right, Dad?) and now he was probably going to freeze to death, die out here just like his parents. Maybe Howard, wherever he'd ended up, would get some sort of dark satisfaction out of that, he had always loved being right.

That was an interesting thought, actually, dying out here. Kind of poetic. This random stretch of road, a new Stark legacy. He wondered what the stock drop would be after _that_ , wondered how long it would take the press to move on from flowery odes to his lost potential and how this was such a _tragedy_ to the critical pieces tearing him apart, selfish Tony Stark who squandered everything his father worked for.

Well, whatever would happen would happen and it’s not like there was anything else to do, so he took a sip from his bottle and settled down against a tree to wait.

* * *

James Rhodes drove slowly towards the spot where Howard and Maria Stark’s car had crashed, scanning the sides of the road as he went. He hoped he wasn't too late. The temperature had been dropping all night and his skinny idiot of a best friend was out here somewhere without even a coat...he should've left sooner, should've figured out quicker that Tony wasn't coming back...there! Slumped against a tree, his white shirt almost glowing in the darkness. _Please be ok, please don't be..._

Rhodey heard Tony as soon as he got out of his car. He was singing softly, his voice shaky but still lovely. Rhodey couldn't quite make out the song but it felt familiar, and he was pretty sure it was something he'd heard Maria play on the piano during one of his visits to the mansion. The singing stopped abruptly when Rhodey shut the car door; Tony jerked his head up, grip tightening on the bottle in his hand, then relaxed when he realized who it was and plastered a grin onto his clearly plastered face.

“Hey Tony,” Rhodey called out, cautiously. Obviously alive, that much was good, but he didn't know yet which version of drunk Tony he was dealing with, how much it was going to take to get him somewhere safe.

“R-rhododendron-y!” Tony giggled, tripping over the nickname and his own feet as he tried to get up. He lurched sideways and toppled into a snowdrift with a muffled yelp, the now empty bottle dropping out of fingers made clumsy by the combination of cold and alcohol Tony had exposed them to. Rhodey rushed forward to help him up but Tony swatted him away.

“How'd you find me?” he asked with a suspicious squint. “Wha’d’you want, anyway? Not, not going back there. 'M done.”

“I saw you leave the reception. Alone and armed with a full bottle of liquor...you didn't come back, so I went after you.” _because I was worried about you and I needed to make sure you were ok and I was right because you are so many levels of not ok right now, Tony._

“Yeah but how, here... _I_ didn't even know I'd be here. But _here_ is apparently somewhere Starks end up. Thought maybe I'm s’posed to....to...‘s not important. So, you bugging me or something?” Tony did an exaggerated twirl like he was expecting to see a listening device attached to his back and fell back against the tree with a laugh.

“I know _you_ , Tony, and this is the only place you'd be. Now c’mon, let's get you inside. It's freezing out here. _Please_.”

“ ‘s ok, ‘m not even cold anymore. Was before, now ‘m not. Everything's fine, ‘m always fine.” Tony waved his hand dismissively and gave a poor approximation of the devil-may-care grin he usually reserved for the cameras. That particular smile never worked on Rhodey anyway, but especially not when it was given with lips that were visibly starting to turn blue.

“Yeah, that's the alcohol talking, Tony.”

“Don’ be silly, Rhodesy, the alcohol can’ talk anymore! See,” Tony gestured vaguely in the direction of the discarded bottle, “ ‘s all...all...gone…” He paused. “All gone. My parents can't talk anymore, Rhodey.” His voice that had started off drunkenly high-pitched and giggly, borderline manic, was now a soft and barely audible whisper. He sounded even younger than when Rhodey had first met him and there were tears shining in his dark brown eyes.

“I know, Tones, I know,” Rhodey said soothingly, pulling his friend into a hug, and this time Tony didn't try to resist his touch. They stood like that for a while, Tony shivering and sobbing quietly in Rhodey's arms. He brushed away some of the snow that was starting to freeze in Tony's curls and pulled away just enough to be able to look Tony in the eye before continuing, “but you _can_ and I really need it to stay that way so we’re going to get in the car now and get you warmed up. We don't have to go back to everyone else, we can go wherever you want but you can't stay out here like this, ok?”

Tony nodded mutely, let Rhodey take his hand, and they walked to the warm car together.

**Author's Note:**

> If there are any tags that need to get added to this, please let me know. I'm still figuring out this whole posting thing :)


End file.
